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110 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

for oil rights in Saudi Arabia.10 Early in 1934* following diplomatic
negotiations between the United Stales and British Governments
regarding a concession in Kuwait,11 a compromise was reached
through the formation of the Kuwait Oil Company, whose interests
were shared equally by APOC and the American-owned Gulf Oil
Corporation. A strong determination to seal off the rest of eastern
Arabia from American companies led to the granting of a concession
to the APOC by Shaykh ‘Abdallah of Qatar in May 1935; the
conclusion of the agreement was largely owing to Fowlc’s efforts
to divert the great interest that Socal displayed in the shaykhdom’s
potential.
Although the APOC had gained a footing in the Trucial Coast
through the options of D’Arcy Exploration, another company tried
to enter the area. Frank Holmes,12 whose oil career in Arabia
began when he obtained a concession from I bn Sa‘ud in 1923
for Eastern and General Syndicate, and whose enterprising spirit
refused to accept defeat, was regarded with considerable suspicion
by the British authorities, and it is to Fowle’s credit that he listened
seriously to the proposition pul forward by Holmes in May 1935.
Holmes told the Resident that he thought he could get together
a British company with a view to exploring Abu Dhabi and Dubai;
the company would be 80-100 per cent British-owned, and based
on the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa Limited.13 Fowle
was not averse to the entry of a totally British company, provided
it were reasonably well qualified—especially as the I PC, into whose
area the Trucial Coast fell, had a strong foreign element. Although
the India Office thought it would be more practical to leave the
Trucial Coast in the charge of the APOC, particularly as the
company operated in Qatar, it agreed to consider the propositions
put forward by Holmes. The new company came to nothing, however,
and in October 1935 Holmes communicated this to the India Office.14
He had not, however, been inactive during the period from May
to October; he had written to both Shaykh Sa‘id of Dubai and
Shaykh Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi, requesting permission to search
for oil. Shaykh Sa‘id, acting on the advice of the Residency Agent,
ignored the letter; Shaykh Shakhbut, on the other hand, encouraged
Holmes and embarked on a long period of confrontation with
Fowle and his representatives.

PETROLEUM CONCESSIONS LTD
In the meantime, in October 1935, Petroleum Concessions Ltd
was formed and registered. All its shares were held by the same
interests, in the same proportion, as in the I PC, the only exception
being that there was no representative of the Iraqi Government